Insert youthful acronym/slang here______

Hello Dear Reader,

So sorry that I have been MIA. If it is any consolation I have actually been chaneling my depression into useful things like writing and running. I'm starting to feel better and am actually getting to spend a little bit longer each week outside the throes of depression. I don't care if it's two extra minutes a week, it's worth it.

Anyway, so while I was running today I was listening to music and thinking about writing. I'd already done a bunch of chapter work in the morning, so I wasn't really focusing on my book or the next scene I will be writing. Instead I was thinking a little bit about characterization in books.

If you had to ask me what was the hardest thing to do with regards to my own characters (apart from getting away from Sue traits) I would tell you that it is trying to be as authentic as possible.

What do I mean? Well, there are a lot of things that contribute to “authenticity” in my opinion, but the one that I was thinking about today was age.

Why age? I suppose some of this comes from reacquainting myself to some degree with YFIC. Before anyone jumps on me, please let it be known that I love YFIC. I came into reading it a little late (I was reading Stephen King before I ever read Tamora Pierce, for example), but it has a very fond place in my heart. However, I have found that a lot of authors (and I don't necessarily exclude myself from this category) struggle with writing children and young adults that actually sound or behave like, well, kids.

Three of my “main” characters in Dragon Touched are children 11 and under and I have to be honest...writing them was/is kind of a bitch. I like to think that I did decently but man, it's hard. And you know, that makes sense if you think about it. How many of us have winced our way through movies targeted at teens and found ourselves looking at each other saying: “No teenager talks like that!” Typically you get one of two things. You get “older” people trying so very hard to sound hip that their characters use massively out of date slang or pop culture references that make sense to the writer, but not their young reader. You could argue that fantasy would then be easier to write as you get to make up slang and whatnot...but you still have to worry about kids actually sounding like kids and not that dad who comes down during a sleepover and drops an obvious “YOLO” into a conversation. The flipside is you get creepy horror movie children who talk like miniature adults (think Macaulay Culkin in “The Good Son”).

So how do you find the balance? Eh...well, I am hesitant to offer “advice” on the subject...but I know what has worked (I think) for me so far.

I made a chart. Because I am cool like that.

I made a chart of my ages going all the way back through grade school because you know what? If you asked me what I was like at a particular age I wouldn't have a really good answer for you. However, I could tell you what I was like with more accuracy if you asked me about a specific grade. Looking at that chart forces me to think about how I would have thought at a given age.

It's hard to balance sometimes because, at least with my three “children” characters, they have grown up with an awareness of the politics of their homeland. They are largely treated as older than they are, which in turn has made them all act a bit old for their age. However, what I did try to do (y'all can tell me how successful I was or wasn't) was then combine that with realistic behavior for their age. They can't be mature all the time.

I was a pretty precocious kid and was told often that I acted very “grown up” for my age. However, I did my share of of immature things. I still wince when I think of the first time I met Kevin's parents. *facepalm* Yeesh.

 And it's not just about “behavior”, at least, not in the sense that people usually think of. It's hard to remember as an “adult”, but “kids'” minds work differently. That is just science. I say that having had a lot of (oh man this sounds trite) “revelations” about my past and certain relationships that I have had. There were some things that I just plain didn't understand as a 12 year old that make a lot more sense to me now. I'm not talking about math/science/SAT things (although please don't ask me to display my embarassing math skills). No, I mean “life” things. Ideas about love and relationships, family, the ideas of privilage and inequality...our abilities (if we cultivate them) to comprehend those things grow as we do. They grow by exposing ourselves to things we don't know, to people who we don't necessarily agree with, and by trying to see the other side of an argument. I was clever enough to fake understanding the other side pretty often growing up, but I have had a lot of “ah ha” moments in the past few years. Time gives us perspective if we let it, which is why it is disconcerting to read about a twelve-year-old spouting off wisdom like Master Splinter.

I think the other trap is that it is really easy for writers to use characters to...“correct” what we see as flaws in ourselves, past and present. I know that I was kind of a monster as a kid, so it would be natural for me to want to write kids who didn't give their parents Hell, right? This also has occasionally...disturbing overtones when it's patently obvious that a writer is using their work to correct what they see as personal injustices in their lives. They weren't popular, but their main character (a natural brunette, thank you very much, not one of those plastic blondes) is instantly popular and adored without trying.

I get the temptation to do that, I really do. The gods know that I am not even remotely a perfect person. I have made a lot of mistakes that it is tempting to correct with a few keystrokes. I've talked about how Wren used to be the me that I wished I was. Writing about her in that way taught me a lot about myself and about the woman I want to be, but that doesn't teach you, the Reader, anything about Wren.

It is so tempting to write our characters selfishly. Perhaps they are the people we wished we, ourselves, were. Perhaps they are the families we wished that we had, the friends, the lovers, the lives that we wished that we had. But it's not about us. It's about the characters.

I guess that's the long version of what I was thinking about with regards to writing young characters. As always it has exploded into something very long and rambly, and I thank you, Dear Reader, for sticking with me this far. I hope that as I continue to push myself to not allow my depression to rule me this month that you will hear from me more soon.

All of the love, as always.

~E.W